The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-07-15
JESSIE BENTON FREMONT.
Her Visit to the Old Lady VINO One
Saved Her Life.

Saved Her Life.
When Jessie Benton was a 3-year-old
child she was seized with a violent attack
of Group while the Benton family was on
the way from Washington to st. Louis on
the National road. So violent was it that
the child's father turned off the highway
into the nearest house, which happened to
be Mrs. Grugar's. The woman saved the
child's life and thus established a claim TO
the attentions of the Benton household
whenever she was in Washington. She
was a woman who had a very clear mind
and was remarkably well read, but was
~"singularly without any sympathies. =
When Mrs. Fremont was at Wheeling with
her husband IN the early days of the war
she recalled the woman who had perform
ed such signal service for her in her child
hood, and to her surprise learned upon in
quiry that Mrs. CruGar was still living, as
clear minded as ever, though 100 years old.
In a well built house of dressed stone, very
kitchen and a long row of negro quarters
all the roads and paths leading to it lost
in the unchecked growth of many years
the old lady lived, entirely alone, even the
servants being locked out at sunset.
Mrs. Fremont determined to visit her
and rode out to her house, accompanied by
the general and attended by a guard. In a
large library, lined with books, she found
+I,n nf1 lclu rrLn bal cora1 iYr IfG. ~ n
baby, who still knew her perfectly and all
about her and why armed men attended
her on the visit. She had in her hand a
volum of the Spectator, which, she said,
was writing she liked-her old books were
the only kind she cared for. Her dress,
like her books, was old, but of the best,
for she was carefully arrayed in rich black
satin. with 4 cap Of beautiful old yellowed
lace, and the inevitable false hair, dark.
was framed in with rich lace quilIings.
Her age told il her skin of her face and
hands, which was like c:imped parch-
ment, but the lips were firm, and the eyes
deep set, in wrinkled lids, were still dark
and keen. Nor did she forget her duties
as hostess, and said it might please s4the
young people" TO go up stairs-there was
a ball room there, and they might dance if
they liked.
The ballroom turned out to be a mu-
scum of the fashions from 1920 TO 1910, for
Mrs. Crugar, like Queen Elizabeth, had kept
all her fine clothes. The walls were hung
with dresses of silk and satin and velvet,
mantles of queer, rich damask, pclisses
trimmed with fur, and braided riding
habits. In the closet were bonnets of fine
Leghorn and of tremendous size, cashmere
turbans embroidered in gold, long wells of
fine old English lace and treasures of good
lace in shawls and capes, English HORTON,
Mechlin or Brussels. When one of the
young officers put his hand on a pincushion
it fell to pieces. The old lady had seen
none of thesc things for more than a quarter
of a century, but she talked of the war and
its inevitable result, but without feeling
and apparently without sympathies. Well
might any woman of fashion ask herself
if such a life was worth living, for what
Mrs. Crugar was fashion had made her.
-Reriep Of Hrs. FremORt's Book.